The beauty of cross country is the opportunity for middle-distance runners to battle with marathoners over hill and dale, and Tallahassee ’19 certainly displayed top American talent throughout that range.

Huddle, Hall, and Houlihan led a pack of 10 through the first 2M loop in 10:29, with Tuliamuk, Taylor, Schneider, Cragg and Schweizer—plus former world team members Sarah Pagano and Elaina Tabb—all in contact. Huddle, Houlihan, Cragg, Schweizer, Tuliamuk, and Hall were together as they passed the line to conclude the second loop at 19:55 for 6km. Tuliamuk forced the pace over the third lap, leading Huddle, Houlihan, and Hall through 8km in 26:31.

Huddle—in search of her first ever national cross title—pressed the pace over the next kilo but was unable to open up any daylight over Houlihan, who was better known as a middle-distance runner during her days at Arizona State, during which she won the ’14 NCAA 1500. Showing no hesitation during her first race—and the first nationals staged at the 6M-plus distance—Houlihan powered away up the final hill with 600m to go and pulled away during the homestretch to win by 8 seconds over Huddle, 32:47–32:56.

“I wasn’t really sure what to expect going into it,” Houlihan told USATF.tv following her victory. “I wanted to win, but I didn’t know if realistically that was going to happen. I felt coming into it that I was very fit, very aerobically strong—but so is everyone else! I didn’t really know what to expect, but I’m happy to come away with the win.”

Hall (32:57) finished 3rd, just a tick behind Huddle, while Tuliamuk (33:04) placed 4th. Bowerman TC athletes Cragg (33:18), Frerichs (33:25), and Schweizer (33:29) claimed places 5–7, while Bruce (33:30), Anne-Marie Blaney (33:35), and Pagano (33:44) rounded out the top 10. The Bowerman TC easily won the team title over Hoka One One NAZ Elite, 12 points to 27.

Huddle and Tuliamuk, both training for spring marathons, declined positions on Team USA for the World Cross. The Bowerman contingent—Houlihan, Hall, Cragg, Frerichs, and Schweizer—waited for coach Jerry Schumacher to look over their training/racing plans to decide whether they would represent Team USA in Aarhus at the end of March.

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